Warriors face steep uphill fight in continued commitment to Steph originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
When the doors to NBA free agency swung open on Sunday, the Warriors already had crossed off the boldface name atop their shopping list. Nine-time All-Star Paul George, their clear priority, would not be available.
This was a severe wound to Golden State maximizing the remaining seasons of an effective Stephen Curry. If the front office can’t execute a full recovery, it will be fatal.
George, 34, was the ideal addition to join 36-year-old Curry and 34-year-old Draymond Green to try to squeeze one or two more runs to the NBA Finals. An upgraded lineup would bring dramatic improvement. This would have been a win-now core with a fighting chance to produce a fitting epilogue to Curry’s remarkable career.
The Warriors would be contenders again. That has been Curry’s focus ever since the disastrous 2019-20 season, when a fractured hand forced him to spend five months watching the Warriors – his team – finish with the worst record in the league.
The 2022 NBA Finals victory was a message to the world that the Warriors, despite being the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, had regained the status of being a team to be feared. Curry had become the all-time 3-point king. He had won that long-desired Finals MVP award. And now the Warriors were, once again, legitimately heavyweights.
Curry, perhaps more than anyone, yearned for the Warriors to maintain that level of prestige.
They have not. They finished sixth in the Western in the 2022-23 season and were bounced from the playoffs by the Los Angeles Lakers in the semifinals. They finished 10th last season before bussing 75 miles to Sacramento for a Play-In Tournament game and getting blasted into the offseason by the Kings.
George would be the centerpiece of Golden State’s reset. A 6-foot-8, 225-pound wing in a league where two-way wings are taking over. The Warriors valued George over Klay Thompson for several reasons, the most pertinent being he is now a superior player.
Breaking up the best-shooting backcourt the world has ever seen, the fabled “Splash…
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